1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to the field of carpet laying tools. More specifically, it is a tool for temporarily securing carpet to an underlayment during the carpet laying process.
2. Related Art
In the course of laying wall to wall carpet, there exists a need for a means to temporarily secure a portion of the loose carpet in a certain position while an opposite edge of the carpet is stretched and finally attached. The need commonly occurs in doorways where it is necessary or desirable to stretch and secure the balance of the carpet throughout the room before trimming the carpet at the doorway to an end or for a neat seam with other carpet. The need occurs, too, in replacing adjacent carpet sections and repairing carpet seams. Carpet layers have long employed a number of individual "loose" nails for this purpose, sometimes with the nails driven through a scrap of carpet or padding lying on top of the carpet to be installed. This "loose nail" technique is time-consuming, unnecessarily damaging to the carpet back because it is stressed or even broken as each nail is removed, and there is good potential for a nail or nails to be left under the carpet, requiring removal and repair.
Related art described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,300,181 to Spann and in U.S. Pat. No. 3,945,609 to Platek disclose devices which engage adjacent carpet sections from the top of the carpet and mechanically draw the adjacent sections together to create or repair a seam. The devices are a variety of carpet stretchers which vary from the present invention in that they do not operate to secure an area of carpet temporarily to a certain position. They require a second carpet section and secure the carpet sections relative to each other rather than to a certain position relative to the floor or room.
Schilz in U.S. Pat. No. 4,230,303 discloses a "stay nail bar" which engages a single carpet section and secures it temporarily to a certain position. It is removably locked into position between opposite walls or within a door jamb and engages the carpet from above with penetrating prongs. While this device performs to a similar purpose, it does not disclose the present invention because it requires lateral support and does not penetrate underlayment.
It is an object of the present invention to provide simple and effective means to positively and temporarily secure an area of carpet to a certain position. It is a further object for said means to be inexpensive to procure and safe and efficient to operate. It is yet another object of the invention to leave the carpet and house undamaged. It is yet another object of the invention to provide an unobstructed area at the edge of the carpet for subsequent operation such as trimming and sewing.